The European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has welcomed the decision by the European Commission to settle a case concerning pension contributions. The complainant discovered that the Commission had failed to pay his contributions to the Belgian Social Security Office (ONSS) in the 1960s when he worked as an auxiliary agent. While the Commission argued that it had stopped deducting a personal contribution from the complainant's salary during the contested period, it also acknowledged that it no longer had the records to prove this. According to the Ombudsman: "This case underlines the importance for the institutions to keep adequate records. Where this key principle of good administration is violated, I will call on the institution to remedy the problem in favour of the citizen. I am encouraged by the Commission's agreement to do so in this case."

The case

The complainant turned to the Ombudsman after he discovered that the Commission had not paid his pension contributions to the ONSS for the years 1967 and 1968. He claimed that it should recognise that it was obliged to insure him under the Belgian pension scheme for the entire period that he had worked for it. The Commission argued that it had stopped deducting a personal contribution from the complainant's salary during this time. However, as it no longer had the relevant payment records, it was impossible for it to prove this.

The Ombudsman insisted that principles of good administration require that records concerning pension entitlements are kept reliably over long periods of time in order to ensure that individuals can enjoy the benefits which they have earned. As the Commission had failed to do so in this case, he called on it to settle the matter. The Commission accepted the Ombudsman's proposal and contacted the complainant to follow up on the case. The complainant thanked the Ombudsman for his work.

Background

The complainant worked as an auxiliary agent at the Commission from July 1965 to December 1968. In 2002, he was informed by the Belgian National Pensions Office that the Commission had not paid his pension contributions for the years 1967 and 1968. Because of this, he encountered problems relating to his pension entitlements with the relevant national insurance organisation. The complainant contacted the Commission, which informed him that, according to its records, he had been registered under a Greek voluntary insurance scheme during the contested period and that no contributions had therefore been paid to the ONSS after September 1966.

The Ombudsman's decision can be found on his website, at the following address:

 

For further information, please call Mr Olivier Verheecke, Principal Legal Adviser, tel. +32 2 284 20 03.